Zach Tomaselli, one of four men to accuse former Syracuse assistant coach Bernie Fine of molesting him, has recanted his story on Thursday night.
In an email to CNY Central, Tomaselli wrote, “It has become a burden of a lie and I am sick of it. Bobby Davis told me what to tell detectives and it pretty much took off from there,” while adding that he never met Fine.
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Davis denied those allegations Friday morning.
“I never said anything like that at all to the kid,” Davis said to ESPN. “I just spoke to him a couple minutes. in the short time we spoke what he said is not like anything I know of Bernie, but I’m not in position to question anybody.”
Tomaselli pled guilty to gross sexual assault, unlawful sexual contact and two other sex-related counts, while seven other counts were dropped in December. Tomaselli was sentenced to three years and three months in prison in Maine on Wednesday.
Tomaselli becomes the second of the four accusers to recant his story. In January, the fourth accuser, Floyd VanHooser, told the Syracuse Post-Standard that he had fabricated his story.
That leaves Bobby Davis and Mike Lang as the only two accusers still remaining.
The allegations led to Fine’s dismissal as the Syracuse associate head basketball coach on Nov. 27. Fine was in his 36th season with SU.
No criminal charges have been filed against him. Previously, a statement issued by Fine called the allegations of the first two accusers “patently false.”
